Dragon Gate
, operating as and often referred to as , is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion formerly known as Toryumon Japan. It stayed behind after Último Dragón left Toryumon and took the name and rights with him in 2004 Most of Dragon Gate's wrestlers were graduates from Último Dragón's Toryumon Gym, and thus the promotion is based on a Junior Heavyweight style with varying emphasis on high flying maneuvers, flashy technical grappling, and submissions. Overview History In early June 2004, it was announced that Ultimo Dragon, who just returned from a one-year stint with WWE, leaving the Toryumon Japan promotion and taking the Toryumon name since he owned the rights. The last show was promoted under the Toryumon name that took take place at the fifth anniversary show "Vo Aniversario" at Kobe World Hall in Hyogo on July 4. Takashi Okamura, was serving as the Director of Toryumon Japan while Ultimo was in WWE, then he announced that the promotion would continue on independently as Dragon Gate. Naming the promotion Dragon Gate was itself taken from the meaning of the word Toryumon itself. The word was coined after the homonym that is translated as climbing up dragon gate, which means the gateway to success. Following the split, Dragon Gate immediately went on to work, launching the Every Day Pro Wrestling project. As part of the Fuji Television "Adventure King" as an attraction in Tokyo, Dragon Gate wrestlers would wrestle two shows per day throughout July and August, often having two or three matches per show. They would hold the larger scale "Premium" shows once a week during this time. The project was a success and it brought in new fans to Dragon Gate and wrestling in general. They would hold a second in 2005, which further increased the fanbase. The promotion reached a very intriguing predicament by the end of 2004 and going into the start of 2005 as several key wrestlers left, either by their own or by being fired. Those who left were Milano Collection AT, SUWA, TARU, and the entire Aagan Iisou unit, the latter group has been the main heels of the promotion. Also, the highly popular and revolutionary Crazy MAX unit had folded due to SUWA's departure. Following a bad period in the month of January in 2005, company ace CIMA would turn heel and start a new unit called Blood Generation that got the promotion back on track. 2005 also saw the foundations for expansion outside of Japan, a very ambitious concept for a company that was nearly a year into its independent existence. CIMA, along with first Dragon Gate trueborn's graduate Shingo Takagi, traveled to the United States to wrestle in ROH. In November, they ran a show in Kanan, China that drew 3,500 attendance, setting the creation of plans to run shows in the United States and South Korea. Also in November, Mexican gaijin Vangelis and King Shisa, who would later reveal to be Pentagon Black, appeared in Dragon Gate and were followed by American gaijin Jack Evans and Roderick Strong. This would set the tone for the promotion, previously under isolationist principles, for the most part, opening their doors to outside talent from 2006 onward. Dragon Gate sended talent to ROH and PWG in 2006 where they immediately won the heart of American fans, through which produced the legendary Blood Generation vs. Do FIXER in a six-man tag team match on March 31, 2006 in Chicago Ridge, Illinois that won acclaimed and earned Match of the Year honours of the Wrestling Observer as well as a prestigious five-star rating from its chief editor Dave Meltzer. In addition, Dragon Gate would a start series of events called WrestleJAM, bringing together wrestlers from Japan, America, and Mexico to celebrate and showcase their in-ring styles. On January 6, 2008 CIMA announced at the end of a PWG show that Dragon Gate would be running their first US show in Los Angeles later that year. It would take place on September 5, 2008 in Bell Gardens, which they followed with a show in Waikiki, Hawaii the next day. This would lay the expansion for the launch of Dragon Gate USA the following year.Also in 2008 since Naoki Tanizaki's return to the promotion, Dragon Gate started to allow their wrestlers to compete elsewhere in Japan. Despite an unfortunate incident that was made public in mid-2009, Dragon Gate continued to grow stronger than ever with increasing fanbases in Japan and in the United States following the first Dragon Gate USA show on July 25 in the former ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Furthermore, they ran the first of what would become the annual visits to Europe, in particular, the United Kingdom, in October and November, later it was created a sister promotion called Dragon Gate UK that increased the fanbase in Europe including BxB Hulk making the first ever title defense of The Open The Freedom Gate Championship in Japan on December 12 against Susumu Yokosuka. Later 2014 Dragon Gate hold their last show in the UK and since then it wasn't held any shows in the UK. On August 15, 2015 Dragon Gate ended their expansion in the USA in order to Gabe Sapolsky focus more on Evolve. On July 21, following the Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival, it was reported that Open The Dream Gate Championship has been lost. Following this, it was immediately reported to the police the incident. All championship titles were locked in aluminum suitcases. All titles were found, except for the Open The Dream Gate Championship which as declared stolen. The situation was declared to be further investigated and Takashi Okumura made the highest priority finding the championship, leading to the promotion ordering a new title. On March 21, 2018 at Memorial Gate in Wakayama, Dragon Gate announced Dragon Gate Network, a new streaming site for the promotion's events. Roster Since the promotion started to run independently in 2004, Dragon Gate has functioned on having a vast majority of its roster aligned with one unit or another. There are generally multiple factions active at one time. Staff Broadcasters Current * Gaora (2004-present, broadcasting monthly show and live specials) * Dragon Gate Infinity (2000-present, broadcasting live and taped shows) * Nico Nico Douga (2016-present, streaming untelevised spot-shows and interviews) * Dragon Gate Network (streaming service, in partnership with Gaora, broadcasting most Dragon Gate shows live, as well as on-demand classic) Unit History Since the start of Dragon Gate until now, the first six units were formed before like Crazy MAX, Florida Express, Aagan Iisou, Italian Connection, Final M2K and Do FIXER. The others unit are since their formation until their disbanding. * ■ Founding member * ▲ Left the unit * ▼ joined the unit * ● rejoined the unit * ★ Leader Championships Active Championships Inactive Championships Tournaments Affiliates Events Marquee events * Champion Gate * Memorial Gate * Dead or Alive * King of Gate * Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival * Summer Adventure Tag League * Dangerous Gate * Gate of Destiny * Final Gate Marquee tours * 5 Units Survival Race * Open the New Year Gate * Brand New Gate * Fantastic Gate * Gate of Evolution * Gate of Generation * Gate of Victory * Gate of Maximum * Fantastic Gate * NEX Sanctuary * PRIME ZONE * Rainbow Gate * Truth Gate External links * * * Toryumon/Dragon Gate Title Histories * Dragon Gate USA Home Page * I Heart DG Fan Site * Dragon Gate UK Home Page Category:Promotions Category:Major Promotions